[PATCH v22 08/10] lib/hpcc: Clarify accuracy range documentation

[Mathieu Desnoyers]

Answer a report from Sashiko at:
https://sashiko.dev/#/patchset/20260901182857.26690-1-mathieu.desnoyers@xxxxxxxxxxxx

Note that both Sashiko and Claude got it wrong with respect to what was
going on there. I took out pen and paper to draw the range situation,
and presented the result to Claude through ascii art, which solved the
matter. Having two LLMs misguided by the code, I decided to add a visual
representation of the approximation ranges to compare_delta() so anyone
reviewing this code won't fall into the same traps.

This change is documentation only.

Signed-off-by: Mathieu Desnoyers <mathieu.desnoyers@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
Cc: "Paul E. McKenney" <paulmck@xxxxxxxxxx>
Cc: Steven Rostedt <rostedt@xxxxxxxxxxx>
Cc: Masami Hiramatsu <mhiramat@xxxxxxxxxx>
Cc: Dennis Zhou <dennis@xxxxxxxxxx>
Cc: Tejun Heo <tj@xxxxxxxxxx>
Cc: Christoph Lameter <cl@xxxxxxxxx>
Cc: Martin Liu <liumartin@xxxxxxxxxx>
Cc: David Rientjes <rientjes@xxxxxxxxxx>
Cc: christian.koenig@xxxxxxx
Cc: Shakeel Butt <shakeel.butt@xxxxxxxxx>
Cc: SeongJae Park <sj@xxxxxxxxxx>
Cc: Michal Hocko <mhocko@xxxxxxxx>
Cc: Johannes Weiner <hannes@xxxxxxxxxxx>
Cc: Sweet Tea Dorminy <sweettea-kernel@xxxxxxxxxx>
Cc: Lorenzo Stoakes <ljs@xxxxxxxxxx>
Cc: Liam R. Howlett <liam@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Cc: Mike Rapoport <rppt@xxxxxxxxxx>
Cc: Suren Baghdasaryan <surenb@xxxxxxxxxx>
Cc: Vlastimil Babka <vbabka@xxxxxxxxxx>
Cc: Christian Brauner <brauner@xxxxxxxxxx>
Cc: Wei Yang <richard.weiyang@xxxxxxxxx>
Cc: David Hildenbrand <david@xxxxxxxxxx>
Cc: Miaohe Lin <linmiaohe@xxxxxxxxxx>
Cc: Al Viro <viro@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Cc: Yu Zhao <yuzhao@xxxxxxxxxx>
Cc: Roman Gushchin <roman.gushchin@xxxxxxxxx>
Cc: Mateusz Guzik <mjguzik@xxxxxxxxx>
Cc: Matthew Wilcox <willy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Cc: Baolin Wang <baolin.wang@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Cc: Aboorva Devarajan <aboorvad@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Cc: David Carlier <devnexen@xxxxxxxxx>
Cc: Josh Law <objecting@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Cc: Andrew Morton <akpm@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Cc: linux-mm@xxxxxxxxx
---
 lib/percpu_counter_tree.c | 28 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
 1 file changed, 28 insertions(+)

diff --git a/lib/percpu_counter_tree.c b/lib/percpu_counter_tree.c
index cd71581f56bb..a8351c53d062 100644
--- a/lib/percpu_counter_tree.c
+++ b/lib/percpu_counter_tree.c
@@ -457,6 +457,32 @@ long percpu_counter_tree_precise_sum(struct percpu_counter_tree *counter)
 }
 EXPORT_SYMBOL_GPL(percpu_counter_tree_precise_sum);
 
+/*
+ * Each counter's approximation lies within [precise - under, precise + over]:
+ *
+ *                  approx_a range
+ *            <-----------+----------->
+ *          under_a       |       over_a
+ *                    precise_a
+ *                        |                          approx_b range
+ *                        |                    <-----------+----------->
+ *                        |                  under_b       |       over_b
+ *                        |                            precise_b
+ *                        |                                |
+ *                        |<------------ gap ------------->|
+ *  ----------------------+--------------------------------+-------------> values
+ *
+ * The two ranges are disjoint, and the comparison can return a definitive
+ * answer, only once the gap exceeds the two facing half-widths:
+ *
+ *   a below b:  gap > over_a + under_b   (a's upper edge, b's lower edge)
+ *   a above b:  gap > under_a + over_b   (a's lower edge, b's upper edge)
+ *
+ * When comparing against a plain value, the value has zero width, so the
+ * margins reduce to that single counter's under and over.
+ *
+ * accuracy_neg is used when delta < 0, and accuracy_pos is used when delta >= 0.
+ */
 static
 int compare_delta(long delta, unsigned long accuracy_neg, unsigned long accuracy_pos)
 {
@@ -494,6 +520,7 @@ int compare_delta(long delta, unsigned long accuracy_neg, unsigned long accuracy
  */
 int percpu_counter_tree_approximate_compare(struct percpu_counter_tree *a, struct percpu_counter_tree *b)
 {
+	/* See the range geometry above compare_delta(). */
 	return compare_delta(percpu_counter_tree_approximate_sum(a) - percpu_counter_tree_approximate_sum(b),
 			     a->approx_accuracy_range.over + b->approx_accuracy_range.under,
 			     a->approx_accuracy_range.under + b->approx_accuracy_range.over);
@@ -549,6 +576,7 @@ int percpu_counter_tree_precise_compare(struct percpu_counter_tree *a, struct pe
 	long delta = count_a - count_b;
 	int res;
 
+	/* See the range geometry above compare_delta(). */
 	res = compare_delta(delta,
 			    a->approx_accuracy_range.over + b->approx_accuracy_range.under,
 			    a->approx_accuracy_range.under + b->approx_accuracy_range.over);
-- 
2.43.0